The Portrait
by Tora Brambles
Summary: ON HIATUS! Josef is haunted by dreams of a woman he can barely remember. The woman also seems to be connected to one of Mick's cases... of a missing child, with vampire parents. Who is she, or more importantly what is she? JosefxOC BethxMick, OCxOC
1. Prologue: The Dream

Josef Kostan wasn't one to mince words; in no time more then a blink of an eye he had the woman pinned beneath him, with a sharp growl. His lips were latched to her throat. No, he was not biting her, but the bruising kisses he placed there nearly broke the kin. In a husky, horny, throaty tone he whispered; "I want you."

The woman under him didn't speak, but undid the sash of the silk robe she was wearing; inviting him to taste more of her flesh. His hands joined hers in pushing away the pale pink cloth printed with golden roses until she lay bare before him. Once he could see all of her did he press his lips to her hot, almost feverish skin again. Oh, how he wanted more, more, and more of her. The tinge of lust he felt stirring in his loins was testament to that; but at the same time his hunger was so much more. It was bloodlust; burning thirst that made his teeth ache. Physical lust that was the stiffening heat between his legs, but it was something else also. He found something stirring inside of him that demanded more then just sex and blood. Something he wouldn't or couldn't name.

Josef pulled away from the woman, eyes gleaming a predatory pale blue. She reached up and traced his lips before slipping a slim finger between them and gently rubbing his right fang. His eyes rolled back into his head and he groaned; it was not really teasing, but more of encouragement. He felt his fangs lengthen, threatening to prick her skin. He knew what to do next. So, Josef leaned down and bit her neck. The woman's body ached up with a sharp cry. But, as he continued to feed on her, her body relaxed and slumped back down onto the mattress. And, for the first of many times that night she whispered his name; "Josef…"

"Josef."

"Josef!"

JOSEF!"

There was another voice calling him, accompanied by a sharp bang that shook the world to blackness. Josef opened his eyes to see Mick St. John banging on the lid of his freezer. Josef threw open the lid and sat up; "What the hell man?"

Yes, Josef was a very grumpy person when waking up. In reply Mick help up a piece of paper. Looking closer at it Josef saw the woman in his dreams looking back at him from an old oil painting, like the kind found in 18th century Europe.

"Do you know this woman?" Mick asked.


	2. Michelle

**AN: Hello everyone. This is my first time with a Moonlight fic. And I really enjoyed the show and hope I do it justice. If anyone has any tips or plot suggestions please let me know in the reviews or send me a message. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight or any of its characters. The only characters that belong to me are Arte and James. Warnings: adult situations/language, death, possible OOC (out of characterness)**

Recap:

"What the hell man?"

Yes, Josef was a very grumpy person when waking up. In reply Mick help up a piece of paper. Looking closer at it Josef saw the woman in his dreams looking back at him from an old oil painting, like the kind found in 18th century Europe.

"Do you know this woman?" Mick asked.

Start:

Josef let his eyes flick over the picture, trying not to linger on what he knew to be the soft skin of her neck, that sweet smell of her hair splayed out on duck down pillows beneath them... Josef made his eyes focus on Mick; "No... why do you ask?"

"Because an envelope and a note with this picture showed up on my doorstep this evening," He flipped the piece of paper around to reveal a not written in heavy black ink in a soft cursive: "Find Josef", "The note said to give it to you and I'm wondering what you have to do with Michelle Donavin."

"Is she a vampire?"

"No, she's a human girl...err... barely anymore who was adopted by vampires and went missing... get up and get dressed, I'll explain more downstairs." With that Mick vanished out of his 'bedroom', leaving Josef to get dressed and meet him in the kitchen. Mick was drinking from some of the packaged blood Josef kept around for him, noticing his friend had joined him Mick swallowed his mouthful of blood and turned to face the 400 year old vampire; "Michelle is identical to the girl in this picture, are you sure there isn't anything you need to tell me?"

_Yeah... I dreamt I drank from and had sex with that girl last night_... Josef thought to himself, "Yes I'm sure. You said this girl was human that painting looks too old for the girl to be posing for it."

"I know, it is. Its from a museum here in L.A. I asked Beth to look it up for me."

"Great." Josef clapped his hands together, feeling a little miffed still about being woken up and confused about the obvious similarities between the woman in his dreams and the woman in the painting, "What do you need me for?"

"I want you to come with me to talk to her vampire parents and to help me search her room, maybe you'll find something I miss..." Josef huffed but accompanied his friend, only because his curiosity was getting the better of him, he told himself, but at the same time, there was a nagging emotion at the back of his mind that it was something more... something else...

The vampire couple met them at the door, answering before Mick even rang the bell. The 'mother' had long dark brown hair that had been swept into a bun on the back of her head, gold hoops dangled from her earrings and she was wearing a green blouse that matched her worried eyes and designer jeans, she was pretty even in her worry; "St. John?"

"Yes." Mick said stepping over the threshold as she let to two of them into the house. They met the 'father' in the living room, he was more plain then his wife, but still held vampiric grace that made him attractive. He had golden curls and eyes that were so pale blue they almost looked like he'd vamped out, though the lack of fangs said otherwise. Both vampires looked to be in their late 30s.

"You're the PI, Mick St. John?" He said, shaking hands with Mick who nodded. "I'm Johnathan Atchison, this is my wife Mary-Anne Atchison... who's this?" Johnathen finished introductions, gesturing to Josef.

"Just an assistant of mine." Mick said, hearing Josef scoff behind him, "My name is Gabriel." He supplied, holding out a hand to them.

"Nice to meet you." Mary-Ann said.

The four vampires sat down on the living room sofas. "Why don't you start by explaining your adoption of Michelle." Mick said, "We can move on from there."

"Vampires can't have children." Johnathan said simply, Mary-Ann's lip trembled, but she didn't say anything; "We decided to adopt someone whom we thought could handle it..."

"Handle knowing about vampires...?" Gabriel/Josef asked, the two nodded.

"We... we know this is going to sound bad, but we were very good to Michelle." Johnathan said, his voice taking on an almost desperate tone.

"What are you getting at?" Mick pressed, his eyes narrowing.

"This agency contacted us... and they explained how they had children that already knew about vampires." Johnathan continued.

"How did they do this?"

"We don't know... we just thought we were so lucky. We paid some money, we paid more since we wanted an older child, and Michelle showed up on our doorstep three days later... that was eight years ago."

Mick and Josef exchanged looks, they hadn't heard about anything like this before... and agency that kidnapped human children, exposed them to vampires and shelled them out to 'adoptive' parents?

"You didn't think that this could be illegal in any way? Or about what you had done to the human parents of the child or to the child herself?" Mick's voice was raising a little in anger. His law and code against hurting innocents...

"B-but we didn't hurt her!" Mary-Ann blurted out, Josef was surprised to see tears shining in the woman's eyes, "We were good parents and Michelle was a sweet girl! Until..."

"Until what?" Gabriel/Josef asked before Mick could really start yelling at them.

"Shortly after her eighteenth birthday... she stopped aging... we got her when she was twelve." Mary-Ann really started crying then, "We thought someone had turned her, but... her heart still beat, she still ate food... we didn't know what to do... she was scared... then one day, we went to her room and she was gone."

A shocked pause followed this as Mary-Ann began to cry silently. Jonathan sat very still beside her.

"Are you sure she didn't just run away?" Mick asked.

"Positive..." Johnathan said, getting to his feet, "Come with me... I need to show you something."

Mick and Josef followed Johnatan up the stairs next to the main entry way of the house and down a hall. At the far end of the hall sat an lightly open door. Johnathan pushed it open to reveal a bedroom.

There was a light layer of dust over everything; the bed was lightly rumpled, as though someone had been sitting on its dark purple comforter. One of the drawers was open, but there were still plenty of clothes visible in it. But that wasn't what immediately tipped off Josef and Mick that Michelle hadn't just run away. The room reeked of vampire, a scent that didn't match Johnathan's nor Mary-Ann's...

Mick immediately began questioning Johnathan on if they had any enemies that were vampires or if Michelle knew any beyond her parents. But Josef was too preoccupied to listen, he was too busy concentrating on the only human scent in the room: Michelle's. It was identical to that of the woman from his dream. Who was this Michelle? Outside it had begun to rain...

Michelle opened her eyes to the sound of rain. She was in the back seat of the car, she couldn't move her arms and she blinked willing her eyes to focus. All she saw was the back of a head with dark hair and her own wrists which were tied with a thick rope. And everything went black again...

**AN: I hope this turned out all right... I'm still trying to work out what Michelle is exactly... so bare with me :) Remember: reviews=love**


	3. Legend of the Painting

**AN: Hello everyone. Wow, updating again in one night. XD I hope this continues to flow well. Lets see where this goes...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight or any of its characters. The only characters that belong to me are Arte and James. Warnings: adult situations/language, death, possible OOC (out of characterness)**

Recap:

There was a light layer of dust over everything; the bed was lightly rumpled, as though someone had been sitting on its dark purple comforter. One of the drawers was open, but there were still plenty of clothes visible in it. But that wasn't what immediately tipped off Josef and Mick that Michelle hadn't just run away. The room reeked of vampire, a scent that didn't match Johnathan's nor Mary-Ann's...

Mick immediately began questioning Johnathan on if they had any enemies that were vampires or if Michelle knew any beyond her parents. But Josef was too preoccupied to listen, he was too busy concentrating on the only human scent in the room: Michelle's. It was identical to that of the woman from his dream. Who was this Michelle? Outside it had begun to rain...

Michelle opened her eyes to the sound of rain. She was in the back seat of the car, she couldn't move her arms and she blinked willing her eyes to focus. All she saw was the back of a head with dark hair and her own wrists which were tied with a thick rope. And everything went black again...

Start:

Josef and Mick exited the house, slowly walking down the front steps to Mick's car.

"An adoption agency..." Josef mused as they pulled onto the highway again, "It sounded a lot like the old slave trade to me."

"Didn't the council shut that down in the 1950s?" Joseph asked, glancing at the older vampire.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that an large handful of underground trades cropped up. Maybe this one is just using it as an cover of an adoption agency." The two of them fell into silence.

"I'll look into Johnathan and Mary-Ann and look at records of missing 10 year olds from eight years ago, maybe we can find who Michelle really was." Mick said after a long pause of deep thought. Josef nodded; "Do you have the name of that picture you showed me this morning?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Your do-goodi-ness is contagious to a certain extent, what's the name?"

"The portrait, but going to the museum won't do you any good."

"Why not? And I was planning to research."

"The painting was stolen the same night Michelle disappeared."

"Great..."

Michelle opened her eyes again and shot up into a sitting position, "Josef!" The name was foreign, yet at the same time it stirred a deep, nameless emotion within her, "What...?" She felt someone at her side almost immediately. Looking over she saw the man who had kidnapped her, "YOU?"

The man was working at her arm, removing an IV, not looking at her; "It's oka-" He was cut off as Michelle's hand flew out smacking him hard a crossed the side of the face. He fell onto his hands since he was kneeling beside her. Michelle got up to run but she was tackled around the waist, she crashed onto hard ground and lay there stunned. The man turned her over onto her back and she got a good look at him: pale skin, dark brown hair that was slicked back, dark brown eyes. He was wearing jeans and an dark green jacket with a cream colored shirt underneath; "Don't be afraid..."

Michelle was still stunned, all she could do was gasp and stare at him with frightened eyes.

"Don't be afraid." The man repeated, taking advantage of her stunned figure to pull her into a seated position, then to her feet. He lowered her back into the arm chair and tied her wrists to the arms of the chair; "I'm sorry it has to be like this, but Lance did a good job on your memory, and did a good job on keeping you hidden."

Michelle tried her bonds, but she couldn't even budge the rope, "I don't understand. Who is Lance?" Her voice was shaking terribly, "Why are you doing this? Who are you?"

"I'm doing this because I want to save you from those who would take advantage of you. I'm James; your first."

"M-my first?"

James didn't reply in words, at first, instead his features changed; eyes the pale blue of a predator with fangs to match; "The first of the silver-strain vampires..."

His features shifted back down to human and he got up, moving over to a bundle on the floor, he picked up the bundle and removed its cloth covering revealing a painting. He hung the painting on the wall directly in front of her; "It's almost time..."

The woman in the painting was almost Michelle's double; except a little older. She was also wearing clothes that resembled an outfit from something out of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet; a mid-evil gown complete with headdress. James gave her a tiny smile; "I'll be back shortly with some food and some stuff that will be more comfortable for you to sleep on m'Lady. Don't worry, everything will be explained soon enough."

With that James left the room and Michelle let the tears she had been holding in flow free; "Please... someone... help me..."

Josef leaned back in his chair; looking at his computer screen on his desk. It was a legend regarding the painting 'The Portrait' and vampires; eyes narrowed he began to scan the little amount of text that there was on the screen.

_The Portrait, according to legend, originally was a portrait of the Goddess of Ghosts and the Supernatural: Hecate. One of her most devoted worshipers painted this after having a vision of her; as seeing his devotion, Hecate bound herself to human form using the rendition of his painting. She became his lover, but it came at a great cost. Loving the one who created darkness made him a part of the darkness himself. The man drank some of Hecate's blood and as such began to crave blood himself, he was the first vampire. However, the Goddess, upon seeing the carnage he laid to the village around him, fled in despair from his blood soaked form. It is said that the Goddess would visit the vampire once every century to see if he had changed his ways. Once every century he would up-date the painting, to represent the current time. However, one day, she stopped coming to see him and the portrait was never updated again..._

Josef snorted, that was a waste of time. He yawned and looked out the window, it was dawn, he was tired. His freezer sounded nice. Stripping down to his boxers he slid into his fridge and shut the lid...

**AN: I know its a short chapter, but my brians run out... *sigh* time to sleep and refresh for tomorrow when I try to update again... :) REMEMBER: reviews=love and my happiness! If anyone has any suggestions for the plot please let me know.**


	4. Dreaming Again

**AN: Hello everyone. Welcome to the next chapter of The Portrait. If anyone has any suggestions for plot or new character ideas please let me know.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight or any of its characters. The only characters that belong to me are Michelle and James and various other OCs. Warnings: adult situations/language, death, possible OOC (out of characterness)**

**Warnings: Adult situations/language, death, OOC (out of characterness)**

Recap:

_The Portrait, according to legend, originally was a portrait of the Goddess of Ghosts and the Supernatural: Hecate. One of her most devoted worshipers painted this after having a vision of her; as seeing his devotion, Hecate bound herself to human form using the rendition of his painting. She became his lover, but it came at a great cost. Loving the one who created darkness made him a part of the darkness himself. The man drank some of Hecate's blood and as such began to crave blood himself, he was the first vampire. However, the Goddess, upon seeing the carnage he laid to the village around him, fled in despair from his blood soaked form. It is said that the Goddess would visit the vampire once every century to see if he had changed his ways. Once every century he would up-date the painting, to represent the current time. However, one day, she stopped coming to see him and the portrait was never updated again..._

Josef snorted, that was a waste of time. He yawned and looked out the window, it was dawn, he was tired. His freezer sounded nice. Stripping down to his boxers he slid into his fridge and shut the lid...

Start:

"Josef..." The voice that whispered his name was no more then a breath against his ear, but he knew who it was. Josef was lying in a large bed, his body resting against one that was much softer. He shifted, pushing himself up onto his elbows and found himself looking down at the woman from his previous dream. She was bare beneath him, they had obviously just finished making love, Josef could still feel himself inside of her. The warmth of her body made him tremble; he looked down into her face, trying to know why it was so familiar to him.

Her lips were soft and almost perfectly full; pale skin, dark brown eyes and hair that was softly curled. The curls were falling limp, he noted, the light sheen of sweat that covered her skin glinted in the pale light of the candles on the floor around the bed. She was smiling up at him. Slowly she reached up and pressed her wrist against his lips; "Still hungry?"

Just the brush of her flesh against his lips was enough to distract him; "In more ways then one..." and he pressed his hips roughly against hers to exaggerate his point. He opened his mouth and kissed the soft skin of her wrist before sinking his fangs in. She never looked away from his face and he could see in her eyes that she was enjoying this just as much as she was. Josef closed his eyes, trying to remember what it was he was going to ask her, it was important. He had to know... he had to know...? Josef lifted his mouth from her wrist and pulled out of her; as he opened his eyes to look down at her he whispered; "Who are you?"

But the bed was empty beneath him. He looked around, the room was dark, very dark, the candles that had been glowing behind them as they made love had burned down and gone out. As he looked around the dark room he remembered how she was so familiar; she looked like Michelle. Michelle was the girl he and Mick were looking for; the girl who had been kidnapped. Suddenly, a soft whimper echoed from beyond the door to the bedroom. Josef reached out to the floor, finding his pants and shirt. He pulled them on, not bothering to button his shirt. The voice whimpered again and Josef called out into the darkness, saying the only name he could think of as he approached the door; "Michelle?"

"No."

The voice that replied was not the voice of a woman, but that of a man. Josef opened the door and saw and horrifying scene before him. He found himself outside, looking out at what reminded him of Grecian temples. The woman who looked like Michelle sat, leaning against the base of one of the pillars, her wrists slashed horribly so that her pale skin was almost perfectly white. She was wearing an Greek-style dress heavily embroidered with silver threads, gold and silver decorated her neck, arms and ankles; she was barefoot. Josef wanted to run, but somehow he found himself moving at an slow pace towards where she sat. As he got closer he saw that her blood was draining into two small bowls on either side of her. Another man walked up to her and lifted one of the bowls, he replaced it with another and took the bowl over to what Josef saw was an large slab of stone. The man mixed the blood with the paints beside the slab and lifted a brush to the stone. As he painted he lifted his head to look at Michelle; Josef saw that he was a vampire. The vampire smiled at Michelle; "Don't worry. Soon I will be finished, and you will be able to reincarnate yourself."

Michelle nodded; "Hurry... Hurry Iakob. I am..." Her voice trailed off as she turned to look at Josef. When their eyes locked Josef's own eyes flew open and he found himself staring at the lid of his fridge.

Michelle opened her eyes; that had been a crazy dream... she had been sitting, bleeding out into bowls as a vampire that looked like James had mixed the blood with paint and painted her. When suddenly, there was another man there. He looked so shocked and afraid... A noise nearby made her jump. She looked around and saw James enter the room, he had clothes draped over one arm and his free hand held a tray of food. James set both of these on the floor beside the lawn chair she was tied to, he then untied her arms; "I'm sorry you have to go through this. Once we restore your memories we will exact revenge against the Duvalls my goddess..."

With that James left her alone to get dressed and eat. This had been the patter for the days she had been kidnapped, five times a day he would come in and untie her to let her use the bathroom, give her new clothes or food. Other times he would come in and talk to her about a woman named Hecate and how she would soon understand everything. Clearly, James really loved Hecate. Michelle knew he'd confused her with that woman and she'd read enough books and seen enough movies to know that when your kidnapper suffers a psychotic break like this it doesn't end well for the victim. She knew that unless she got out soon, he would kill her, drink her blood and kill her. Little did she know that the truth was far different from her fears...

Mick looked up as Beth let her self into his appartment; "Hey."

"Hey." She replied with a smile as she walked over and sat on the edge of his desk; "Did you find Michelle?"

"Not yet, none of my contacts have come through... its as though she really did just vanish. Have you found anything on the painting?"

"Yes." Beth said, pulling out a stack of sheets; "There are a lot of legends about this painting, but the most interesting one I found concerns vampires." She handed him the sheet and as Mick read it his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. The sheet was an adaption of the web-page that Josef had read; "Do you think this could have some fact?" Beth asked.

"I don't know." Mick said, "In truth, I don't know of anyone who knows the origin of vampires. Maybe we can ask Josef."

Beth nodded; "Sounds good." She leaned over and pecked Mick on the cheek; "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll rescue this girl."

"I hope so..." Mick replied, grabbing his coat. The two of them walked out the door and headed to Josef's.

**End of another chapter... :) I hope it was good! Now I just have to plan how I connect all of this before I do another chapter, so hopefully I will update again at the end of the week. Until then, REMEMBER: reviews=love and my happiness! :D**


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